Unfortunately, scammers are a part of our everyday lives, and often the will harass their victims to the point that they will call several times a day, and even several times a night.

Obviously, it gets annoying when scammers just won’t stop calling.

“This is their job, this is how they make a living, is terrorizing us,” says Detective Laura Soulier with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office.

We got a call from a woman in Washington County who has been getting these scam calls at all hours of the night, but she feels like she has to answer the phone because she doesn’t have caller ID, but Detective Soulier says even if you do answer, don’t say a word.

“If you argue with them, they’re going to continue to call back, because they feel if they can get a real person on the phone that they can talk to, eventually they’re going to come up with a story that you’re going to believe,” says Soulier.

There are people who want to get back at the scammers. A friend of mine who lives in Tallahassee was recently called numerous times by a scammer and decided to waste the scammer’s time.

“Making them repeat things over and over, I would start telling stories or start talking about things that had nothing to do with what they were asking me, really just to see how long I could keep them on the line. The longer I had them on the line, the less time they were trying to outscam and take advantage of other people who didn’t know what was going on or who could more easily be made into a victim,” says Steve Halsell.

But if you go that route, the scammers could retaliate, so be careful. Scammer’s weapon of choice is calling when you’re asleep, which is actually pretty crafty. Mean, but crafty.

“They practice sleep deprivation on people they call trying to wear you down or trying to keep you off balance. And as long as you’re arguing and fighting with them, they’re going to call back, they’re vicious people,” says Soulier.

Like Soulier says, calling at night and waking you out of a deep sleep—they think they have a better chance of you believing what they say. So don’t answer the phone, or just hang up the minute they go into their spiel.